liberia_ebola
© AFP PhotoFact file on the Ebola virus that has killed more than 670 people in an ongoing outbreak in West Africa
An asylum seeker was suspected of obtaining the deadly Ebola virus immediately after creating symptoms within days of arriving in Britain from Libera, it has emerged.

The man, who was awaiting processing at an immigration centre run by security firm G4S in Gatwick, was feared to be carrying the illness, which has killed a lot more than 700 individuals in West Africa.

Immigration employees isolated the man and tested him for Ebola earlier this week, but he did not have the infection.

Nonetheless the incident shows how uncomplicated it would be for the deadly disease to enter Britain via illegal channels.

Border staff at UK airports also claim they have not been educated to deal with suspected circumstances coming into the country.

Big British hubs like Heathrow have failed to tighten procedures even by way of airports in Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa have introduced beefed up screening.

Keith Vaz MP, the Chair of the House Affairs Committee, has written to Theresa Might, the property secretary, demanding to know which entry point in the UK is most at risk and how border employees are becoming protected against infection.

I am concerned that officers enforcing our borders recommend they may not be fully ready to defend the public from the spread of this deadly virus.

Prevention is not just far better than cure, in this case it is crucial. I have written to the Dwelling Secretary to assure that we are doing all we can to shield the UK on the frontline.

Immigration Service Union basic secretary Lucy Moreton mentioned customs, border and immigration employees have been worried about getting infected and had not been provided suitable guidance about how to deal with people today suspected of becoming sick.

Mrs Moreton stated: "They serve on the front line they are the 1st point of get in touch with ordinarily for individuals coming off an aircraft and the concern is what do they do if they are confronted with an individual that does not appear well who seems at the border.

"There is no well being facility at the border, there is no containment facility and until really recently there has been no guidance issued to staff at all as to what they ought to do."

Ms Moreton mentioned members had been contacting the union for guidance on what to do and how to shield themselves, but that it had no answers for them.

A spokesman for G4S mentioned they have been monitoring new entrants who had been in the country significantly less than 21 days, the maximum incubation time for the illness.

Professor John Ashton, President of the Faculty of Public Health, mentioned the disease was probably to spread additional.

Epidemic illnesses do not respect country boundaries, which is why we require collective action to tackle the causes of outbreaks to avoid additional tragedies,he said.

Most recent figures from the Globe Well being Organisation show that the outbreak of the deadly virus in western Africa has infected a lot more than 1,300 men and women and killed at least 729. Ebola has no vaccine and there is no remedy.

The outbreak has centred on Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. There has also been particular concern just after densely populated Nigeria reported what is thought to be its first death from the illness on Friday.

The scientist who helped to find out the Ebola virus has said there was a good probability that an individual with the illness would enter Europe and warned that well being workers had been especially at danger.

Even so Professor Peter Piot, who was portion of the team that discovered the virus in 1976, said that the likelihood the epidemic could spread in the UK was "extremely, incredibly, pretty low".

Prof Piot, who is now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said even if someone came to the UK in the course of the incubation period, infection manage measures in Britain would avoid the spread of the virus.

He stated: "In Europe, the way I see it is that there is a great probability that a person will enter a nation while incubating - when you have Ebola, frankly you cannot travel you are so sick - it really is the incubation time when people today can enter the nation.

"Right here, simply because of our infection manage and requirements in hospitals, I think that the likelihood that would give rise to an epidemic is pretty, incredibly, really low."

He mentioned that he wouldn't mind sitting subsequent to an infected person on a plane or train, adding: "By that I mean an individual who is currently infected but is not however ill. Even in the early days when they have fever, that is also not risky for other individuals.

"It really is when they get started bleeding, have diarrhoea and are vomiting, that is risky, but an individual with full-blown Ebola infection can not travel. Even then you nevertheless have to have close get in touch with. It really is not like tuberculosis or Sars or the flu - that you can catch on a bus, but not Ebola.

"When somebody is incredibly ill - that is when they are incredibly infectious, but at that stage sufferers can hardly move - they are not mobile.

"This is not a incredibly contagious infection, you require close make contact with with an individual who is really ill or who died from it.

"For border agents there is no problem that I can see.

"I think the key risk is for overall health workers. When a person comes (to hospital) with fever and some other symptoms well being workers just have to ask exactly where the person has been in the previous month. If the answer is Sierra Leone then the red light must be flashing.

Public Well being England said border officers have been offered guidance on how to identify and deal with suspected Ebola instances safely.

Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond sought to reassure the public over fears that the illness could come to Britain, saying it was "most unlikely" it could spread within the UK.

He did, however, describe the outbreak as a "extremely serious threat", and wellness authorities have met to go over the possibility of people contracting the virus in West Africa and falling sick right here.

The Government's emergencies committee Cobra met to talk about the predicament yesterday, soon after which Mr Hammond stated the "logical" approach was to tackle the disease at source in West Africa.

He said that the "frankly distinctive" standards of infection control in the UK meant it was unlikely it could spread here, and that the disease appeared to be contained within the worst outbreak places.

Overall health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also said that Britain had knowledge in the NHS and substantial experience dealing with harmful ailments by way of the work of organisations such as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.